Murder on the Moon
by ckissick
Summary: The Doctor and Amy have just saved the universe yet again and are in need of a vacation. The Doctor convinces Amy that the Vacation Station on the moon would be just the place. He packs his collection of Sherlock Holmes stories and prepares for a peaceful fortnight of reading and napping. After all, what could possible happen on the moon? Plenty, it turns out.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

On a quiet street in the outskirts of London the stillness is broken one morning by a strange reverberating sound. As the sound fades away, a blue police box slowly materializes out of nowhere. Although there is a smattering of people walking up and down the street, no one seems to notice the box as they walk past. An old lady approaches, walking her rat terrier. The little dog lifts a leg and pees on the box.

"Good boy, Nigel", says the old lady to her beloved dog.

Suddenly a floppy man with a big chin bursts out of the box. 

"Oy! Oy!" he yells at the dog. "Get away from the TARDIS!" He shoos away the dog and his owner. The incredulous old lady huffs and puffs as she scuffles down the sidewalk as quickly as she can, which is really not very quick at all. Nigel stops and looks back at The Doctor. The dog tilts his head. The Doctor tilts his head. The Doctor lets out three sharp barks, prompting Nigel to quickly turn and run ahead of his owner, pulling hard on the leash.

"Slow down, Nigel. That strange man may bark, but I doubt if he bites," says the old lady. They disappear around the corner and the tranquil morning returns.

The door opens again, slowly. Amy looks left and then right before she emerges from the TARDIS.

"What was that all about?" asks Amy. "I heard barking."

"Look at this! That little vermin relieved himself right here," says The Doctor as he leans down to get a closer look at the damage. "I gave that dog what for, I can tell you that."

"You really should be more polite around people, Doctor."

"Maybe people should be more polite around me. Look at that! Just look!"

"Yes, I can see. It's just a little pee."

"Oh, did we just have an adventure or what, Amy?"

"Ah, so we're off the pee incident are we?"

The Doctor dismisses the whole thing with a wave of his hand. "Ahhh… We just barely escaped with our lives! What's a little doggy urine?"

"Oh, I know! We can't go anywhere without having to save Earth. Or the whole Universe, for that matter."

"Too true, that." The Doctor pauses in thought. "I need a vacation."

"What do you mean?" asks Amy.

"You know, a vacation. A holiday. Somewhere peaceful. Where nothing can happen."

"Hmm. Sounds nice."

"Yes… but where can we go where nothing can happen?"

Amy shrugs her shoulders, stumped.

The Doctor rubs his ample chin before he lifts his index finger in triumph. "I've got it!"

"What? Where?" asks Amy. "When?"

"You'll see soon enough. Get in the TARDIS."

"But where are we going? I might need to nip into the house for the proper clothes."

"Trust me. Where we're going, you won't have the proper clothes. Come on!"

The Doctor rushes into the TARDIS with Amy following close behind. Within seconds the TARDIS fades away and disappears.

Soon after, a fat man with an English bull dog arrives on the scene. The dog sniffs the spot where the TARDIS had just been and pees on the grass. "Good boy, Jock," says the fat man.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

As the TARDIS winds down and The Doctor shuts down the systems, Amy opens the door to see where they ended up and is hit with a blast of warm, humid air. "The tropics! I love it! Where are we?"

"Macapa, Brazil. Right on the equator."

"Brazil! Beaches! Palm trees! Colorful drinks with little umbrellas! This is perfect!"

"Oh, we're not going to the beach."

"What? Why not?" asks Amy with great disappointment.

"Too many people. Have you see a Brazilian beach lately? Millions of people. Billions."

"I think you're exaggerating, Doctor."

"Well, there are an awful lot of people in Brazil in 2180."

"2180?" asks Amy warily. "The _year_ 2180? Does it have to be 2180?"

"It does if you want to catch the next space elevator to a moon shuttle."

Amy's slouches toward The Doctor, visibly upset. "The Moon. We're in tropical, beautiful Brazil, and you want to go to the Moon."

"Yes."

"Why, in God's name?"

"Peace and quiet. That's what we agreed on. There are only a few hundred people at the Vacation Station as it's called… catchy name, what?"

Amy glares at The Doctor, not amused.

"Anyway, more than anything, we need to go someplace boring. Dull. Dreary. Tedious. So dull we'll start to pine for some Daleks or Cybermen."

"I can get plenty bored on a sunny, quiet beach."

"Well, there really aren't any beaches in Macapa. Just mud flats. We're on the Amazon River. For real beaches we'd have to go to Rio."

"Then let's go to Rio."

"Oh, come on. I've got a library full of books. Some that haven't even been written yet. Didn't you ever wish you could just spend a week or two with nothing to do but read?"

"Yes."

"There you are, then!"

"At the beach!"

"Oh don't be a stick in the sand. It'll be fun."

"I just got back from another galaxy. How fun can the moon be after that?"

"Okay, then, it'll be relaxing. Go ahead, start packing."

"What does one bring to the moon?"

"Ah. It's all right in here." The Doctor pulls out a brochure titled, _All about the Vacation Station_. "So, let's get cracking."

The TARDIS rests on a lawn set back a few feet from a concrete path that meanders through a palm forest. People walk by without giving it a glance. The door opens and The Doctor emerges in his usual attire, carrying a light hand bag, cheerful as ever. Amy follows behind, lugging a large suitcase and wearing shorts, a flowery button-down shirt, and an annoyed frown. She falls behind The Doctor right away.

"Come along, Pond. Hurry up!"

"I'm going as fast as I can."

"You don't have to bring all that stuff. It's the moon."

"I was hoping the space elevator would break down and we could check into the Ritz, or whatever, in Rio."

"Not a chance."

"Just wishful thinking. So why don't we take the TARDIS to the moon?"

"The whole point here is to get away. That's what you humans do, isn't it? Get away from work? That's what we're doing. We're travelling like regular humans. No TARDIS, no sonic screwdriver, no nothing. Just what you humans usually bring. A toothbrush and a towel." The Doctor considers Amy's sizeable suitcase. "Well, most humans, anyway."

"You should probably stop referring to me as a human. People will wonder."

"Right. That would be weird. I suppose I could call you an Earthling once we're on the moon."

"Sure. Fine."

"Ah, here we are."

The Doctor and Amy queue up at the boarding gate for the space elevator. Before too long, they are greeted by the ticket agent. The Doctor shows her his psychic paper.

The ticket agent takes a quick at the "ticket". "Everything seems to be in order. Please proceed down the corridor and turn left for first class."

"Thank you." The Doctor turns and winks at Amy as he waves the psychic paper in her face.

"I thought you weren't going to bring anything work-related," says Amy.

"A real ticket costs 150,000 pounds. Each."

"Then we're committing grand theft."

"Well…"

"Whatever, let's go."

They enter a sort of large pod called a climber and turn left to find their plush seats. The Doctor happily settles in. Amy struggles alone to jam her suitcase into a storage bin. The Doctor, oblivious, reaches into the small bag on his lap and pulls out a thick book and an apple. He bites into the apple and opens his book. "What did you bring to read?" he asks.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"What are you going to read, then?"

"Nothing."

"Hmm. Okay. I'm reading the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes."

"Hmmm."

"You know, Art stole The Hound of the Baskervilles from one of the stories I told him. Except, instead of wolves, I was being harassed by Slitheen."

"Art?"

"Yes, Art. Arthur... Arthur Conan Doyle?"

"Yeah, I know." Amy looks around. People are staring at them. Amy whispers to The Doctor, "I don't think you should talk about your old pal, Art. People will wonder – and quit making me say that."

"Ah, of course." The Doctor takes another bite of his apple and reads a few lines before he turns to Amy. "What, exactly are you going to do? I only brought the one book."

"I don't know."

"Well, I'm sure something will come up."

Just then a nerdy teenage boy approaches Amy. "Looks like we're seat neighbors." He reaches out his hand. "Simon. Simon Woolrich." Amy shakes his hand.

"Amy. Pleased to meet you."

"Very nice to meet you." Simon looks over to The Doctor. "Is this your father?"

"Hah! No, just a… He's my Uncle."

Simon reaches over Amy to shake hands with The Doctor. "Simon."

"Pleased to meet you, Simon. I'm John Smith. But people call me Mr. Smith."

"Hello. What do you do?"

"Excuse me?"

"For a job. What do you do?"

"Oh. I'm a… a professor."

"Of what?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but I'm enjoying this book."

"Oh. Sorry. Nice to meet you." They shake hands and The Doctor promptly returns to his book.

Simon turns to Amy. "So, Amy, where are you from? I'm from Swindon. In case you're wondering how I could afford a trip to the moon, I can't. I won it in an international science fair. I invented a device that can detect and decode brain waves and determine what people are thinking. I tried it on my dog at first, but got nothing. At first I thought the device – I call it the A-Sig for Alpha Wave Signal Enhancer – it sounds better that AWSE - didn't work, but it turns out dogs don't really think about much except food. So anyway, I tried it on my little sister and still didn't get much of a signal. Just kidding. The screen went off the chart and the headphones almost blew my ears out. Who knew there was so much going on in Kate's brain? Just kidding again. But it was all gibberish. Anyway, I tried it on my classmates and teachers and everything. After a few months of calibrating I could start to actually hear what people were thinking. At first I was kind of upset, but then I figured they were just jealous of me because of my superior intelligence. My IQ is too high to measure. I'm only 16 and already have two PhD's from Imperial College in London. But you probably know all this. I'm kind of famous."

"Leadworth."

"What?"

"You asked me where I was from about an hour ago. I'm from Leadworth."

"Oh. Did I talk too much again? I do that a lot."

"No, not at all." Amy turns to The Doctor and asks, "How long did you say the trip is to the moon?"

"I don't know. Simon?"

"Oh, well, the trip takes place in two stages. Stage one is the one we're on right now. The space elevator. It was first conceived in 1895 by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian pioneer in rocket science. His idea was a tower that was supported under compression. That can't work, of course. Instead, the elevator consists of a graphene ribbon in tension, with one end attached here on Earth, right below us, and the other end attached to a counterweight 35,786 kilometers above earth, in geosynchronous orbit. The counterweight is also the launch point for the moon shuttle. This system enables people and cargo to travel from Earth to a space station very safely and without the inefficiencies of large rocket engines. The major breakthrough was achieved by…"

"Stop!" says Amy, trying unsuccessfully to be polite. "How long? I just want to know how long."

"Oh. Okay. Stage one takes 17 hours. Stage two, a rocket to the moon, takes 3 days. That's actually remarkably fast, considering the distance."

"Not fast enough," Amy mutters to herself.

The Doctor whispers to Amy, "Should have brought a book, Pond."

The passengers are requested to buckle up and stow loose items under the seat. Soon after, the climber shoots upward, accelerating rapidly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The climber is humming right along as The Doctor continues to read and Amy attempts to nap between Simon's science lessons. They just finished their third meal and are looking forward to their imminent arrival at the moon shuttle dock. Simon is standing at a window, looking all around in utter amazement. He turns to Amy and shakes her awake.

"You can't sleep now. I mean, I've never seen anything like this. It's brilliant. We're in space!"

Amy looks up with a bored expression on her face. "Yeah, great. Space."

Simon looks over to The Doctor, who is equally unimpressed.

"Oh, you've been in space before."

"You've no idea," says The Doctor.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that Amy and I have been to the moon more times than we can count."

"Oh… Why?"

The Doctor pauses in thought. He has to come up with something. "Um, quality control. We're with quality control. We ride up and down, making sure the passengers are happy."

"I thought you were a professor."

"Of sociology. This is a side job. Let's have few questions, shall we?" He reaches into his bag, pulls out a notebook and pencil, and gives it to Amy. "So, tell me, Mr. Woolrich, how has your trip been so far?"

"Brilliant!"

"Yes, so you said. On a scale of one to ten, how brilliant?"

"Ten!"

The Doctor turns to Amy. "Put down a ten on the brilliance scale."

"Yes, Doctor." Amy scribbles in the notebook.

"And how smooth is the ride, would you say, from one to ten again, with one being very rough and ten being smooth as silk?"

Simon considers the question very earnestly before answering. "I'd have to say eight. It does bump around a bit. And it's louder than I thought it would be. Although not terribly loud, mind you."

"Of course. Eight is within the acceptable limits. Amy?"

Amy scribbles in the pad again. "Eight on the smoothness scale. Excellent."

"And how was dinner?"

Simon makes a face. "I'm afraid it wasn't very good. I'd have to give it a… mmm… a four. Sorry."

"No matter. Honesty is all we ask for. That's enough for now. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Okay. Aren't you going to interview anyone else? We're almost there. Well, almost at the shuttle dock, anyway. You could interview people on the moon shuttle, I suppose."

"Actually, we're on vacation," says Amy. "We're travelling as tourists for a change. We weren't planning on interviewing anyone."

"I just thought we'd ask you a few questions in our spare time," says The Doctor.

"Oh. I guess that's why you used a pencil and paper instead of a data logger."

"That's right."

"But why go to the moon for vacation when you always go there for work?"

"Too many questions," says The Doctor.

"Sorry. I do that a lot, too."

The climber begins to slow down as the intercom requests that everyone buckle up and stow loose items away. They are instructed to remain buckled until a flight assistant comes to their aid, as they will soon be experiencing zero gravity.

After docking to the moon shuttle, several flight assistants enter the climber to assist each passenger's transfer to the shuttle. The first class section is the first to transfer. Amy is a bit alarmed to see the flight assistants float in, rather than walk in. She'd forgotten that conventional space travel took place in a zero-gravity environment. The Doctor is the first to be released from his seat. He floats by Amy with a big smile on his face.

"Zero gravity. How charming," he whispers.

Amy is next, then Simon and all the others. There are twenty passengers in all. They are gently shoved into the shuttle where they are then led to a cylindrical room with a flat floor in part of the room with rows of seats. Everyone floats to a seat with the help of an assistant and is buckled in. There is no longer any concept of up or down, so the seats in the shuttle appear at first to be on the ceiling, in relation to the seats in the climber. Amy gets a little woozy with disorientation. They are all advised to close their eyes, take deep breaths, and try to relax. They are given barf bags, just in case. A couple of people use it.

As Amy is concentrating on not using her barf bag, she turns to The Doctor and whispers through gritted teeth, "We couldn't just use the TARDIS." The Doctor shrugs in response. Simon is buckled in, clearly enjoying the whole process.

"I've clearly spoiled you," whispers The Doctor to Amy.

"Oh, no. Three days strapped to the ceiling is my idea of the perfect vacation."

"Oh, it's not so bad," The Doctor whispers.

"This is brilliant!" says Simon. "Is this the most amazing thing ever, or what?"

"I'm glad you like it," says The Doctor. "Amy, remember to make note of Simon's positive reaction to zero gravity."

Amy glares at The Doctor.

Once everyone is buckled in and getting used to the idea of zero gravity, the lead flight assistant explains what to expect during the three-day trip to the moon. The seats aren't really necessary for the flight to the moon, but will come in very handy for the landing. Once they are free of the docking station they would already be travelling at about 11 kilometers per second, due to their orbital velocity. Once fully accustomed to their environment, the passengers would be free to float about the room if they want, or they could buckle themselves in while reading, sleeping, or watching a movie. The round doorway from the climber is at one end of the cylinder, while an opening at the other end leads to the bathrooms, showers, and kitchen. There is no cockpit, as there are no pilots. The rocket is fully automated. Only three flight assistants would remain onboard.

Everyone on board is so excited to be in space that they appear to have no problem with the thought of being packed into a small gravity-free room with a bunch of strangers for three days. Only Amy is dreading the flight. How will she ever pass the time?

Her question is quickly answered when Simon asks Amy if she would like to hear how he came up with his mind-reading invention.

"We'd love to, wouldn't we, Amy?" says The Doctor.

"Sure. Why not?"

Simon's explanation doesn't take three days to complete, but it does kill a good portion of their time before the next meal. He explains that reading thoughts has been possible for several decades, but his device is much smaller, completely non-invasive, and universal. You can use it on anyone at any time, and retrieve one hundred percent of the subject's thoughts. This level of success had been thought to be impossible.

The Doctor opens his book during Simon's speech, intending to ignore the whole thing. But he can't help but listen. Simon constantly gets lost in tangents and resorts to technical references that leave Amy in the dark but intrigue The Doctor.

"How old did you say you are?" asks The Doctor when Simon is done.

"Sixteen."

"And who taught you all this?"

Simon scoffs audibly. "Hmpff. No one. Every teacher I ever had was a dunce."

"I see. Why aren't your parents with you?"

"The prize was for only one person. Too expensive for two. It's okay, though. I've been away at college since I was twelve."

"Yes, of course. Well, that was very interesting." The Doctor turns back to his book but can't concentrate on the words on the page. He tries to think of whom he ever might have met who was smarter than this awkward kid. Many Time Lords, of course, and a few other exceptional aliens, but that's about it. No humans that he could recall.

"Simon?" asks The Doctor, "I've been thinking of changing my business card. Tell me what you think of the one I use now."

"Uh, okay."

The Doctor fishes his psychic paper out of his bag. He unfolds the case and shows it to Simon.

"It says, 'John Smith, Professor of Sociology' but I think maybe it should simply say 'Professor John Smith'. What do you think?"

"I think you ran out of cards."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just a blank card. You must have run out."

The Doctor looks at his psychic paper and laughs. "Oh dear. I feel rather stupid. I guess I did run out. Never mind."

The Doctor is stunned. Amy is wide-eyed as she looks at The Doctor. Try as she might, she has never been able to erase whatever image from the psychic paper. The Doctor realizes that Simon is the first human genius since William Shakespeare to see a blank card. So maybe _Shakespeare_ was as smart as Simon. Maybe.

The rest of the trip to the moon is uneventful and goes by fairly quickly. Amy starts to rather enjoy floating around, playing with balls of water, seeing how fast she can spin in place, letting her long hair go completely wild. The usual astronaut stuff. Best of all, The Doctor takes up most of Simon's attention in long-winded discussions on numerous scientific subjects. Amy decides that a good read will be essential after all and selects a book out of the small collection in the shuttle. Most books are space-related for obvious reasons. After vacillating between several titles she finally chooses a short book that she figures she can finish in three days.

As Amy nears the end of her book while floating randomly about, the head flight assistant announces that they will be landing on the moon in one hour. They must get in their seats and buckle up.

The shuttle is designed to land on the moon and take off from it in the more conventional manner for a rocket. A space elevator on the moon would have to be much longer than the earth's due to the slow rotation of the moon, and it would take weeks to ascend to the elevation required for escape velocity.

Amy reads as fast as she can and finishes the book with minutes to spare. The descent is remarkably smooth, as is the landing. As soon as they land, they are told they may unbuckle and prepare for disembarkation. But they are warned that they are back in a gravity environment. Amy unbuckles and stands up. She's prepared for the gravity, but misjudges its low strength. She pushes a little too hard with her legs and because the moon has 1/6 the gravity of earth, she jumps so high she bumps her head on the ceiling.

"Bloody hell," Amy mutters, rubbing her head.

Simon unbuckles next and carefully gets up, having seen Amy's unsuccessful experience with moon gravity. He tries a few test jumps, bounding around the shuttle. "Weee!" he yells, the sixteen year-old in him coming out for a rare visit.

Soon everyone is bounding around, testing yet another strange gravitational world. They retrieve their baggage and have fun tossing the light suitcases to one another. Amy is pleased to find that her overloaded suitcase is now very easy to handle.

"And you said this wouldn't be fun," says The Doctor while Simon is busy playing suitcase volleyball with another passenger.

"Well, I guess it is kind of fun."

"How was your book?"

"Good. The ending was…"

"Ah, ah, ah. Spoilers."

"Right."

The flight assistant begins to open the door, announcing that the airlock to the moon station is now connected. Their orientation video will begin shortly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

They exit the shuttle and enter a small auditorium. They find a seat and the 3-D orientation video begins. The video begins with the history of manned space flight, including a brief history of the Apollo missions. The viewer "flies" from one Apollo landing site to the next. When the Apollo narrative is over, they fly back to the Vacation Station. The station is located at a feature called Reiner Gamma, in Oceanus Procellerum, on the western side of the near side of the moon. They are about seven degrees north of the equator. The chief advantage of being at Reiner Gamma is that it is a lunar swirl, or a naturally occurring magnetosphere that is thought to be a remnant of the magnetic field that existed on the moon over four billion years ago. The magnetosphere provides a measure of protection from the solar wind so that only minimal man-made protection is required. The lunar swirl has the added benefit of concentrating hydrogen and helium-3, excellent sources for making water and nuclear fuel, respectively.

The video includes many relevant scientific topics, as a large proportion of tourists are wealthy people who made their fortune in the high tech industries. In other words, they are brainiacs who would appreciate the highly technical lecture.

The video then presents the moon station itself. The viewers fly through the corridors and buildings comprising the station, from the viewing halls with their large glass windows, to the dining room, to the rec rooms, and the living quarters. They are spared the technical operations facilities for security reasons.

The construction of the moon station was clearly a very impressive, very expensive endeavor. Building it was not a trivial task, as the video says. There are two principal men who are responsible for its creation. Pretty much everyone on earth knows this part of the story, but the makers of the video couldn't very well let their contribution go unacknowledged. This is fortunate since Amy has never heard of these two men. The Doctor has only a passing knowledge of them. All he had known was that they founded the first moon station. One founder is a financial genius, while the other is a technical genius. The financial genius is a young prodigy of a venture capitalist named Kurt Adams, the richest man in the world. The technical genius is a physicist and chemist named Deepak Sharma, said to be the smartest man in the world.

A brief history of their lives follows. Adams made his first million Euros by the time he was 16 years old, and hit the one billion mark when he was just 23 years old. Now, at the age of 39, his estimated net worth is three trillion Euros. Even so, he is quite reclusive and not well known, spending most of his time on the moon these days. Sharma, at 78 years of age, never became particularly wealthy. People often joked about how he had made a million millionaires but never earned a dime for himself. That wasn't exactly accurate. He earned enough over the decades to become comfortable, but just. Neither man had ever married. They were too busy working 18 hours a day.

When the video is over, a guide announces that both men are presently at the station and just might be spotted on a rare excursion among the tourists. This excites Simon. He idolizes Sharma. Amy thinks his excitement is cute. At first he was annoying but she now finds him rather charming in a geeky kind of way. Not unlike The Doctor.

"Can't wait to meet your hero, eh?"

"I was hoping he would be here. He doesn't get out much, though."

"Well, I hope you meet him, Simon."

The Doctor is intrigued as well. He can't wait to give Sharma, and Adams for that matter, the psychic paper test.

After settling into their rooms, The Doctor and Amy head to the viewing halls. Although they had both seen things that would blow away the most experienced space traveler from Earth, even those who had spent some time on Mars, they find the views rather pleasing. Earth is a sliver about a third of the way up over the eastern horizon, where it would stay always. The sun is about a third of the way up over the eastern horizon as well, but not too close to Earth. After their week on the moon, the sun would be over the western horizon, covering half of its 2-week transit across the sky. By then most of the earth would be in light.

Amy likes the viewing hall with the sandy floor the most. The windows come down to the interior white sand, at the same level as the moon dust outside. The white sand is almost the same color as the moon dust, which retains the high albedo that is common in lunar swirls. This gives the illusion of being outside. They even have intermittent fans to add to the effect. Amy got her beach after all.

The Doctor and Amy spend their first day reading at the beach, hitting golf balls thousands of yards while clothed in moon suits, and going on a short moon rover tour. To measure the days, they use the time zone of eastern Brazil so that they will be in sync with the earth based part of the operation. The sun barely moves during a 12-hour "day".

"I'm glad you talked me into this, Doctor," says Amy while relaxing on the beach at the end of their first day. "I _am_ having fun. And relaxing too. You were right."

"I don't like to say I told you so, but…"

"Yes you do."

The Doctor smiles. "Yes, I suppose I do." He opens his book. He's almost finished with his Sherlock Holmes stories. Just a few pages to go.

Before he can finish, though, he and Amy hear a small commotion down the nearest corridor. Simon runs to them from the corridor.

"They're coming this way!"

"Who?"

"Adams and Sharma! They're meeting people and signing autographs. Come on!" Simon runs back to meet his hero.

Amy is not particularly interested in meeting the founders of the moon station, but The Doctor is very keen. "Come along, Pond."

"No, that's okay."

"Oh, come on."

"No… I'm good."

"I'm going to test my psychic paper on them."

"Oh. That might be interesting."

As they get up, Adams and Sharma enter the beach area. A small crowd follows them to get selfies and autographs. Simon is already talking to Sharma, apparently in his usual annoying manner. Sharma appears to be trying to get rid of Simon. He won't even look at him. As they approach, Simon turns away from Sharma, looking somewhat downcast.

"I think I talked too much. Again. He barely looked at me."

"I'm sorry, Simon," says Amy. "You'll get another chance, I'm sure. I'll coach you on how to talk to him next time."

"Thanks, Amy."

The Doctor ignores Amy and Simon and pushes his way through the small crowd to get to Adams. "Excuse me. Excuse me," he says to the perturbed tourists. He pulls out his psychic paper and shows it to Adams. "An honor to meet you, Mr. Adams. My card."

Adams offers his hand as he reads the card. "Pleased to meet you. Mr. Smith."

The Doctor gets what he wants from Adams and without another word, pushes his way through Sharma's crowd of admirers.

"Excuse me. Excuse me. An honor to meet you, Dr. Sharma. My card." Sharma looks at the card with a puzzled look on his face.

Sharma offers his hand. "And you are?"

"It says right there," says The Doctor, tapping the "card".

"But it's blank."

The Doctor looks at the card. "So it is." He walks away without another word and walks up to Amy, who is still comforting Simon.

"Well?" says Amy.

"Sharma." He nods toward Simon. "Two in two days."

"Two what?" asks Simon.

"Oh, it's nothing," says The Doctor and walks away.

"What's he talking about?" Simon asks Amy.

"I have no idea," Amy lies.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Three days later, The Doctor and Amy are on the beach again. Amy is napping while The Doctor is reading another book.

"Amy."

Amy opens one eye. "I'm asleep."

"I'm bored."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm bored. I think I've reached my limit of nothing happening."

"Deal with it."

"I wish we'd come here in the TARDIS."

"Well, we didn't. This is just how you wanted it. Holiday like a human, you said."

"Did I say that?"

"Sort of. You didn't want any chance of anything happening at all. Remember?"

"I said that?"

"Yes!"

"Well, I was wrong. Why didn't you stop me?"

Amy glares at The Doctor, incredulous.

"Oh, I see," says The Doctor. "How many more days until we leave?"

"Four. Then three days in the moon shuttle. Then half a day on the space elevator."

The Doctor sighs heavily and opens his book. Now he's reading an Agatha Christie novel. "I still haven't found a mystery I can't solve by page ten."

"The curse of being a Time Lord, I suppose."

"I suppose so. Still, I wouldn't mind a nice Dalek invasion or something."

"Not much chance of that," says Amy.

"Oh, you never know."

"Just read your book."

They settle into their routine. The Doctor reading and Amy napping. Before long, the peace is interrupted by a commotion coming down the corridor.

"Oh, here come those two again," says Amy.

Simon runs up to them, far more excited than he should be.

"What's wrong?" asks Amy.

"They're saying that Deepak Sharma is dead!"

"What!?" says Amy.

"Dead! He's dead! They found him in his bed."

"How?"

"I don't know."

"Wow."

The Doctor puts his book down. "Well, it's not Daleks, but this will have to do. The game is on, my dear Pond."

"Doc… uh, Uncle! A man is dead!"

"Right, sorry. Let's go."

The Doctor gets up and puts his beach gear away.

As the three of them head to the center of the commotion outside Sharma's quarters, Simon asks Amy what a Dalek is.

"Oh. Umm... I think he said bollocks. You know - someone is dead. Oh, bollocks! - Like that."

"I'm pretty sure he said, 'It's not Daleks'."

"But that makes no sense."

"Exactly."

"You must have heard wrong, then."

Simon thinks it over. "I guess so," he says, still skeptical.

They walk briskly down the corridors to where the most exclusive living quarters are. All the top managers live in this area. There is a crowd clogging the corridor, talking quietly amongst themselves, throwing out theories left and right. The Doctor forces his way through to a guard at the door to Sharma's quarters. Amy and Simon manage to stay right behind him. He officiously presents the guard with his psychic paper.

"Hello, Sir. I've been summoned to investigate. I'm here on holiday, but I am also with Scotland Yard. I must insist that I be allowed in to investigate the scene."

The guard examines The Doctor's business card. "Certainly, Lieutenant Smith. Go right in."

The Doctor enters the room but the guard stops Amy and Simon.

"They're with me," says The Doctor. All three enter the room.

"Lieutenant Smith?" whispers Simon to Amy. "Scotland Yard?"

"Shhh," warns Amy. "I'll tell you later."

There's a medical doctor and a security officer in the room.

"Who are you?" asks the security officer.

"Scotland Yard." The Doctor shows the security officer his psychic paper. "What do we have here?"

"We're not sure, Lieutenant. He was found like this by his personal assistant about forty-five minutes ago."

"I see. Where is this personal assistant now?"

"She's at the infirmary, under sedation," says the doctor. "She was quite upset."

"Of course. Thank you, Doctor…"

"Doctor Pickering."

"Doctor Pickering. What is the cause of death?"

"No idea," Doctor Pickering says. "There are no signs of trauma and he has no history of health problems although, at 78, you never know."

"I see. Do you mind if I have a look around?"

The Doctor pokes around, first peeking into the bathroom, the laundry room, and the trash bins. He goes to the bed and starts lifting the sheets, turning the body this way and that.

"Uh, sir…" says the security guard. "Please don't touch the body. We're trying to determine whether or not this is a crime scene."

"How, by standing guard over there? Just let me do my job, cadet. I outrank you. By a lot, I should think." The Doctor reads the guard's badge. "Officer Greene, is it?"

"Yes sir."

"So, he died in his sleep?"

"Apparently," says Doctor Pickering.

"So. He went to sleep on this side of the bed, the right side from his point of view, but the alarm clock is on the left side of the bed. The opposite side from where he apparently sleeps every night. And it's a king size bed. Officer Greene. Do you have a wife?"

"No."

"So you sleep alone."

"I try not to," Greene smiles.

"This is no time for brevity, Greene. We'll say you sleep alone. Like Doctor Sharma here. Do you keep your alarm clock on your side of the bed, or on the opposite side?"

"My side, of course."

"Of course."

"Maybe he puts it there so that he's forced to get up to turn it off," says Doctor Pickering.

"Not likely. A man of his accomplishments doesn't need such tricks to get out of bed. He was not a lazy man. Someone clearly put him here, either while unconscious or dead, without knowing which side of the bed he slept on."

"Well, you can never be sure of that," says Officer Greene.

"What about the pillow and the bottom sheet?"

"What about them?

"The pillow on the left side is slightly more worn that the pillow on the right. Same with the bottom sheet. He did his own laundry and…"

"Wait," says Amy. "How do you know he did his own laundry?"

"Housekeeping is weekly. But there are room service receipts in the trash bin that are up to two weeks old. Obviously, Doctor Sharma values his privacy and does his own housekeeping and laundry."

"Obviously," says Amy with a roll of the eyes.

"Anyway, he only cleaned the pillow case that he used. That's why it's more worn. The same pillow case is always on the left. But he doesn't do his laundry often enough. There are faint saliva stains on the left pillow. Sharma was clearly stomach sleeper, or maybe a side sleeper, but here he is sleeping on his back. Someone put him here."

"I still say you can't be sure of any of that," says Greene.

"I'd say he died in his sleep," says Doctor Pickering. "Although he was healthy, he was 78 years old. Even in this day and age such things can happen. Most likely a heart attack."

"I admit, the evidence is flimsy, but I'm convinced," says The Doctor. "This man was murdered. Greene, I think we should review the security recordings. Assuming you have security cameras in the corridor."

"Of course we do."

"Then let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The Doctor, Amy, and Simon visit the security offices to review security recordings with Officer Greene. The video room has dozens of monitors keeping an eye on the whole moon station. The moon is a very busy place. There are five men and women keeping loose eyes on the screens while they eat and socialize. When they notice Officer Greene they sit up straight, put their food away, and become glued to the screens.

"Were any of you hard working people on graveyard last night?" asks Greene.

"No," they all say in unison.

"It was just Taylor," says one of them.

"Only one of you?" asks The Doctor.

"You only need one on graveyard. Everyone's asleep. There's nothing to see."

"I see," says The Doctor. "Then go fetch this Taylor fellow. Run along."

Officer Greene looks affronted by The Doctor's actions. "I'm in charge here," he says. He turns to the worker. "You. Go fetch - er - retrieve this Taylor man."

"But she's asleep."

"She? Well, I don't care. Wake her up and see that she gets here immediately."

While Taylor is being retrieved Greene asks which monitor is for the corridor outside Sharma's rooms. They set up in front of the monitor and bring up the recording from the night before, starting at midnight when the corridors would finally be sufficiently empty to move a body. The recording is put on hold while they wait for Taylor. Within moments, she enters the room, still trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Sorry to wake you, miss," says Greene. "You must be present while we review the recording from last night. Protocol."

"Of course," says Taylor.

The Doctor approaches Taylor. "Hello, I'm Lieutenant Smith. And you are…"

"Hillary Taylor."

"Hillary, then. Did you see any…"

"I'll ask the questions," says Greene. "Did you see anything unusual last night?"

"No."

"Could you have missed anything?"

"No."

"With all these screens and only you to monitor them?"

"Well, I guess I might have missed something. But there's not much going on. If anything moves on any of the screens it sticks out like a sore thumb."

"Well then, let's look at just this one monitor here and see if we see any thumbs. Put it on fast forward. We don't want to be here all day."

They start the recording and put it on fast forward. Anyone in the corridor would appear for at least a split second and be noticed immediately. They all watch carefully, except for Taylor. She falls asleep but they let her sleep. They can wake her if they need to. However, the whole recording goes by in about an hour with no blips. Nothing.

"Well, that's that," says Greene. "He died in his sleep. I hope you're satisfied, Lieutenant Smith."

"I'm not. Show the whole thing again at normal speed."

This elicits a wave of protests from everyone.

The Doctor indicates the still-sleeping Taylor with a nod of his head. "This one's new, isn't she? Otherwise, Officer Greene here would know her. And only the new ones work the graveyard shift."

"Yes, she's new," says Greene.

"Interesting," says The Doctor.

"What's so interesting about that?" asks Amy.

"Never mind. I insist on watching the entire recording again at normal speed. None of you need to stay."

And none of them do. The Doctor settles in to watch the six-hour recording while the rest of the workers keep their eyes on the live feeds on the other monitors. They don't really need to watch Sharma's hall anyway. There is a guard posted outside Sharma's door for the whole day. Before starting, The Doctor asks that the duration of the recording be set for precisely six hours, to the second.

The Doctor is transfixed for six solid hours, hardly even blinking. He was reminded of the Weeping Angels and what could happen if you did blink. The other workers keep glancing over to him, wondering how he could do it. It's one thing to watch several monitors, all filled with activity, but to watch a single empty corridor for six hours seems impossible to them. But The Doctor does it with ease. To no avail. He saw nothing.

However, when it is over, The Doctor takes a look at a timer in his hand. He turns to the young man who set the recording for exactly six hours.

"You," he says, "Are you sure the recording was precisely six hours long?"

"Yes, quite sure."

The Doctor looks at his timer. "Then why does my timer say it was five hours, fifty-nine minutes, and twelve seconds?"

"It shouldn't. I set it for midnight to exactly 6 AM. It should be exactly six hours."

"But it wasn't. How would you explain that?"

"That could only happen if part of the recording was erased."

"Exactly. Forty-eight seconds were erased. But I watched the time in the corner and never saw it jump ahead."

"Maybe you just missed it. I mean you can't possibly watch the entire time. You have to blink once in a while."

"Hmmm. I need to watch it again. This time with help. Everyone! Watch with me. We need to watch for a jump in the time. Let's start with 3AM to 5 AM. Our crime would have most likely taken place in that time frame."

Amid groans, three of the workers – they can't all abandon their stations – join The Doctor to look for a forty-eight second jump in the timer. They are not disappointed. The jump occurs at 3:57 AM. Two of the workers missed it, but one worker and The Doctor noticed it.

"Go fetch Officer Greene and Miss Taylor," orders The Doctor.

Within a few minutes Officer Greene and Hillary Taylor enter the room, both looking more than a little annoyed.

"I'd really like to get some sleep," says Hillary. "I was up all night."

"Yes, I know," says The Doctor. "But there's something I need to show you."

The Doctor starts the video about a minute before the jump and instructs Taylor and Greene to keep a sharp eye on the time in the corner of the screen. As the jump approaches, The Doctor reminds them to pay special attention.

"There! Did you see that?"

"I sure did," says Greene. He turns to Taylor. "How'd that happen?"

"I have no idea."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, Officer Greene, do you still think Sharma died in his sleep?"

"I'm not so sure anymore. Taylor, what did you erase?"

"Nothing! I didn't do anything."

"I see. Then who erased… how much was erased?" he asks The Doctor.

"Forty-eight seconds."

"Who erased forty-eight seconds off this recording?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know. How long have you worked here?"

"About a week."

"And that's how long you've been on the moon?"

"Yes."

As Greene considers his next move, Amy comes into the room with Simon right behind.

"We heard people asking for Officer Greene. What's going on?" asks Amy.

"Some of the video was erased," says The Doctor. "But Miss Taylor here, the only one in the room at the time, has no idea how it happened."

"Oh. Well. Now what?"

The Doctor perks up, obviously having some sort of revelation.

"Simon!" says The Doctor.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about your invention. What's it called?"

"The A-Sig?"

"Yes! The A-Sig. Tell Miss Taylor here what it does."

"Well, it reads minds. Senses everything the subject is thinking."

"Precisely. And as it happens, young Simon here leant me his new hand-held unit."

The Doctor whips out his sonic screwdriver from his breast pocket. Simon begins to protest but quickly realizes what The Doctor is doing. Amy is also about to accuse The Doctor of lying when he told her he brought nothing to the moon. First, the psychic paper, now this. Could the TARDIS be hiding somewhere nearby? But she stops herself. She can't exactly start a conversation about psychic paper, sonic screwdrivers, and the TARDIS in front of these strangers.

Simon is happy to play along. "Yes, that's my new, uhh, hand-held unit."

"May I give it a try?" asks The Doctor.

"Sure. Why not?"

The Doctor walks up close to Taylor and starts to scan her with the sonic screwdriver. He pretends to put an ear bud in his ear. "Hmmm. Hmmm. I see you're frightened. No need. Just please answer my questions. But do so truthfully. This device will tell me exactly what you're thinking." The Doctor pauses as if listening to something. "Yes, it does work," he says to Taylor. She looks into The Doctor's eyes, trying to act confident. Her eyes wander down to the ample chin. "The biggest chin you've ever seen eh?" Taylor looks startled. That really was what she was thinking.

"Let's begin," says The Doctor. "Um, don't say anything at first. Let's see what this thing can do. Why did you take this job? Adventure? I see. Where did you learn the skills necessary for this job? University of Michigan. Correct?" Taylor nods silently. "And now you find yourself here all alone. As far away from your ex-fiancé as you could get. He really shouldn't have hit you. And now you're wondering how I know all this." He waves the sonic screwdriver back and forth. "Brilliant little invention, Simon. No wonder you won that international science fair." He turns to Taylor again, pointing the sonic screwdriver at her. "Oh, you didn't know about that? Simon is famous. How could you not know? Ah, well, never mind. Let's get to the real questions."

The Doctor paces back and forth, all eyes on him. Taylor is especially alert. He turns to her abruptly, sonic screwdriver in her face, making her almost jump out of her chair. "Who erased the video!"

"I don't know! I knew nothing about it! I wouldn't even know how to do it."

"Oh. You didn't recognize him."

"No."

"Oh. I see. He asked you to leave for a few minutes. And that's when he must have erased the video."

"Yes."

"But why would you leave? Oh, he paid you."

"Yes."

"How much? No, never mind, that's not important." The Doctor turns to Officer Greene. "Do you have photos of everyone on the moon?"

"Of course. Even the tourists."

The Doctor turns to Hillary again. "Do you think you could recognize a photo of the man who came in last night?"

"Maybe. But I'm terrible with faces."

"Lieutenant Smith," says Greene, "I agree that she should look at the photos, but it's been shown in studies that people often mistakenly identify people as perpetrators of crimes when, in fact, they pick out someone else that they saw at around the same time. Miss Taylor here has seen hundreds of new faces. Even if she picks out one person, she could still be wrong. But, like I said, we have to try."

"Maybe we don't need to," says Simon. They all turn to Simon, almost having forgotten he was even there. "It's a simple matter of getting on the server and retrieving the erased data."

"Right," says Greene. He turns to Hillary. "What's the password to the server?"

"I have no idea. Only the head of the department knows it and she's on vacation. And Doctor Sharma, but…"

"There's a third person who seems to know the password," says The Doctor.

"Yes," says Greene. "Whoever erased the forty-eight seconds. But we have no idea who that is."

"That doesn't matter," says Simon. "I can hack into the system and retrieve the erased recording anyway. The erased bits were recorded, after all. It's in the memory somewhere."

"Why didn't you tell us you could retrieve the data sooner?" asks Amy.

Simon shrugs, "I'm telling you now."

"Okay, whatever," says Greene. He asks Hillary where the server is and Simon gets to work on it. He taps on the keys like a virtuoso and within five minutes has what he's looking for. 'Here it is," he says triumphantly as he presses 'enter'.

The forty-eight second video begins. The corridor is empty, just as before. But at twelve seconds, a man pushing a fairly large equipment cart with a white sheet over it comes into view as he turns a corner into the corridor. He fishes a card out of his pocket and waves it across the key pad, opens the door, and enters Sharma's room. He was looking down the whole time and they never get a decent look at his face.

"Damn," says Greene.

"He still has to come out," says The Doctor. "Keep watching."

At thirty-six seconds, the man comes out, still with the cart. He still looks down the whole time. He looks up and down the corridor to make sure the way is clear. Then, ever so briefly, he looks up. Right at the camera. Everyone in the rooms gasps, except for Taylor, all shouting the name of the man in unison.

"Kurt Adams!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

Everyone variously shouts, "I don't believe it! That's impossible! What's he doing there?"

Only Taylor remains silent. "Kurt Adams? Isn't that the guy who owns this place?"

Greene turns to her. "Of course it is. You don't know him?"

"Not really. I've heard of him. But I don't know what he looks like."

"Is that the man who came in here last night?" asks Greene.

"Could be. But like I said, I'm terrible with faces. But it could be him."

"Well, I'm not sure it really matters. We have him on tape. I think we can all assume there was a body under that sheet."

They all agree that that's a pretty good assumption.

"It looks like I'll be paying Mr. Adams a visit. This should be interesting. Come with me, Miss Taylor. I still need to figure how much trouble you're in."

Greene leaves with Hillary. The Doctor, Amy, and Simon stand around with nothing in particular to do. A few moments of silence pass until Simon approaches The Doctor.

"Um, Mister Smith?"

"Yes, Simon?"

"What's that thing in your pocket? It's not a hand-held A-Sig. I ought to know."

"Oh, that. It's uh, well…"

Amy steps in. "It's just a flashlight."

"That's a funny looking flashlight," says Simon with poorly disguised suspicion.

"Oh, it does a few other things," says The Doctor.

"Yeah, but it doesn't read minds."

"No, not this one. Not really."

"Then how did you read her mind?" asks Amy. "I mean, you knew she was scared, she was looking for adventure, where she went to university, she had a fiancé that hit her, and, and, well, a few other things."

"Yeah, like you knew she was wondering about your chin!" says Simon.

Amy looks at Simon and rolls her eyes. "Simon. What's the first thing you noticed when you met my Uncle?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Yes," says The Doctor. "I used logic and common sense. It was quite elementary."

"Whatever you say, Sherlock," says Amy.

"Well, it was. A young woman like her, coming here alone. She could escape her life anywhere on earth, but here on the moon you also get a great adventure."

"But what about that other stuff?" asks Simon.

"Simple. She had a blue "M" medallion on a necklace barely showing under her shirt. I happen to know that that's the University of Michigan emblem. As for the fiancé, there was a slight impression on her ring finger. No ring now, though. And she wore just a little too much makeup under her left eye. Covering up a bruise. I'd say her ex-fiancé is right handed. I should have mentioned that. Oh well."

"Why couldn't he have been her husband?" asks Amy.

"Too many complications tying up loose matrimonial ends from the moon."

"It does sound kind of simple, now," mutters Amy.

"Well, Greene can go ahead and interview Adams," says The Doctor. "I'd rather look for evidence. Come along, Pond."

"Where are we going?"

"I'd like to see Sharma's workshop."

"Me too!" says Simon.

The Doctor regards Simon for a few moments before concluding the young super-genius might be useful. "Right, then. Come along, Simon."

The three of them go to the workshop, using the psychic paper to get past various security checkpoints along the way. Tourists can't just wander through the halls and rooms where the likes of Adams and Sharma live and work.

They find all kinds of cool things in the workshop, but nothing of importance until The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to detect and open a secret compartment. In it is a map of the far side of the moon, with places marked here and there and cryptic hand-drawn notes about each place. It makes no sense.

Simon notices that Sharma's moon rover has moon dust on the tires. "This is odd," he says. "You're supposed to clean moon dust off of everything before re-entering the station. Moon dust can get into everything. Not good for electronics."

"It seems someone was in a hurry," says The Doctor.

"Or didn't want to linger around security cameras," says Amy.

"Quite right," says The Doctor. "I think we have some more videos to review."

They head back to the video room. Simon is by now getting very curious about The Doctor's gadgets.

"That's not a flashlight," says Simon as they walk down the corridors.

"What?"

"Flashlights don't detect hidden compartments and then open locked drawers. Nothing does. And why do you keep showing people a blank piece of paper, and then they believe whatever you say? It's like a Jedi mind trick or something."

The Doctor thinks of what he could possibly say when Amy steps in. "He can't say. Top secret. I guess we should tell you. We're with MI6. That's all we can say."

"Why are you here on the moon?"

"Vacation. Or at least it was supposed to be. No more questions. And don't say a word to anyone."

"Okay." Simon doesn't sound convinced, but they continue silently down the corridor.

Back at security, they review the recordings of the lab/workshop and other key points around the station, such as the airlock that connects Sharma's workshop to the outside. It doesn't take long. They can now go straight to the time of night that would have been a minute or so before the time that the Sharma video was erased. Like the Sharma video, the recordings are partially erased. Simon retrieves the erased parts of the videos. In them, they see Adams driving the moon rover into the workshop, then moving an unconscious Sharma onto the cart, covering the cart with a sheet, and hastily leaving the workshop.

One of the long-time security men remarks that Sharma was rumored to have had a private "cabin" on the far side of the moon. It was said that he went there to get away, and he possibly even spent the four-week-long moon nights there while the station was closed to tourists and manned by only a skeleton crew.

The Doctor gently grabs Amy by the elbow and coaxes her away where they can talk privately. "That explains a lot," The Doctor whispers to Amy. "The map, the moon dust on the tires. I think we need to go on a little trip."

"You're mad," says Amy. "When do we leave?"

"Right away."

"What about Greene?"

"He doesn't need to know."

"And Simon?"

"This will be very dangerous. We could really use a third person."

"But he's just sixteen years old. You can't take him on a dangerous mission… Uh, why do you think it would be dangerous? Apart from driving long distances on a moon with no atmosphere."

"I have my suspicions. Simon! What are your plans for the rest of your vacation?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

It didn't take much to convince Simon to tag along. It would have been impossible to stop him. The three of them pack up for the journey and set out for the far side of the moon, using the moon rover in Sharma's workshop. After studying the map, they conclude that it will take about twenty four hours to get to their destination. They bring space suits in case they need to make extra-vehicular excursions, and enough oxygen for two weeks. The moon rover is enclosed and does not require space suits while inside.

They follow well-worn tracks to Sharma's cabin, taking turns driving, including Simon, who has just gotten his driver's license a few months earlier. While called a cabin, its appearance is not evocative of what most would imagine a cabin to look like. No wood shingles or stone fire place with smoke floating lazily overhead. Instead, it's an aluminum Quonset hut with small portholes here and there.

There's not much to see in the cabin. But they spot and follow another, less travelled, set of tire tracks that ultimately leads to a place on the map that's marked with a "X" but no name. The tracks stop at a steel door set into a cliff face. The door is too small to accommodate the moon rover, so they park it and don their space suits.

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open the door to an air lock. They get through the air lock and enter a long, rock-lined tunnel. There are dim lights hanging from the tunnel walls, spaced about fifty feet apart. It looks like any number of mining tunnels back on earth.

But Simon's more interested in the sonic screwdriver. "What do you call that thing?" he asks.

"It's called a sonic screwdriver," says The Doctor. Amy gives The Doctor a severe look that's not difficult to interpret. He shrugs and says, "I have a feeling he's going to find out the truth very soon, anyway."

"The truth?" asks Simon.

"Later, Simon. First let's see what's down this tunnel. If there's an air lock, there must be oxygen." He waves the sonic screwdriver for confirmation and takes off his space helmet. The others do the same.

"There's oxygen in here, all right" says Simon. "What is this place?"

The three sneak quietly down the tunnel. Eventually they come to an intersection with two other tunnels going off to the right and left.

"Which way should we go?" whispers Amy.

"Good question," says The Doctor. He pauses in thought, wondering what to do. Before he can make a decision, he hears very faint voices down the tunnel to the left. "Do you hear that?"

"Yes," Amy and Simon both whisper. They continue to listen. They can't make out what they're saying, but Simon begins to wonder what kinds of creatures he's hearing.

"Those voices are very strange. Um... This is probably a stupid question, but... Are they even human?"

"No, Simon, they're not," says The Doctor.

"Oh. Are you?"

"No."

Simon looks at Amy.

"I am," she says.

"What's going on here? What are those things?" asks Simon.

"Daleks."

"Daleks. You _did_ say Daleks the other day. Not bollocks."

"Yes," says Amy. "Well, Doctor, you wished for Daleks. You got 'em."

"Wait," says Simon. "You called him Doctor."

"That's my real name. Well, sort of."

"Doctor who?"

"Just The Doctor."

"What are you?"

"I'm a Time Lord."

"Time Lord?"

"From the planet Gallifrey. The Daleks are from a planet called Skaro."

Simon becomes more and more excited as he realizes the magnitude of this news. He's actually in the midst of aliens from planets he's never even heard of. All while being on the moon. This is quite a lot for a sixteen year old kid to take in. He paces back and forth, breathing heavily, struggling to keep his composure.

"This is unbelievable," he says in a barely contained whisper. "This is incredible." He looks at The Doctor and smiles. "This is absolutely brilliant." He has trouble stifling a maniacal laugh.

"Calm down, Simon," says Amy. "Get a hold of yourself."

"Okay. Okay. I'm fine. I just… This is just... Wow."

"Okay, are we, you know, able to function?" asks The Doctor.

"I think so," says Simon. "Yes. Let's function now. Or, well, whatever."

"Okay then. I'd really like to know why there are Daleks hiding on the far side of the moon and why they apparently were in communication with Sharma. Let's try to get closer so we can hear what they're saying."

"Are they dangerous?" asks Simon.

"Oh, well, I've been going up against them for 900 years and I'm still here. So, no need to worry."

"Would that be 900 earth years?" asks Simon.

"Yes."

"Wow. That's old."

"I suppose it is. By the way, if they spot us the first thing they will say is, 'Exterminate'. Don't worry about that. They always say that. It's rather annoying, actually. Let's go."

The three carefully creep down the tunnel until they are close enough to hear what the Daleks are saying. There's a rock outcrop they can hide behind while they listen. They dare not say a word and communicate with their eyes and gestures.

The Daleks talk about the preparations being nearly complete. About how their race will be victorious. They look forward to inhabiting healthy bodies. They mention something they call "Doppler mind transference". They talk about the _individual_ Doppler mind transference device, and how well it worked with those "fools", Adams and Sharma. They state that the _universal_ mind transference network is scheduled to begin very soon. They also say that they need to perform a mind transference between a Dalek and a human for final calibration. They must retrieve a human ASAP.

The Doctor suddenly becomes excited and shouts, "I've solved the case!" The Daleks hear, and come to investigate.

The Doctor, quickly realizing his blunder, decides on the only logical course of action. "Run!" he yells.

As they flee down the tunnel back to the moon rover, The Doctor explains that the Doppler mind transference concept is one the Daleks and others throughout the universe have been working on for centuries. It is a way to transfer one being's mind into the mind of another, thereby taking over the body. The Daleks want to replace their horribly deformed bodies with healthy human bodies and take over Earth. The universal device allows them to transfer huge numbers of beings simultaneously.

The Doctor now fully understands Sharma's map. While the individual device works on one pair of beings at a time, using two small machines in a room, the universal device uses transmitters spread out all along the outer rim of the moon, as it is viewed from Earth, sending a beam to cover all of Earth. Sharma's map shows every transmitter with tunnels connecting each one. It must have taken hundreds of years to build, and now it will finally go into operation very soon. But first the Daleks must calibrate the universal machine by performing a mind transference between a Dalek and a human.

Simon marvels at the concept. "This makes my A-Sig look like a toy. It must be the most advanced technology in the universe."

"We've got to stop them from getting hold of a human subject," says The Doctor as they reach the air lock. The Daleks can be heard a few hundred yards down the tunnel. Their slow mode of transport may have saved the trio.

They quickly get their moon suits on and operational and open the door. They run out and stop short. The moon rover has been destroyed and the destroyers are still swarmed around it.

"No!" yells Amy.

"What are those?" yells Simon.

"Cybermen," says The Doctor. "They must be working with the Daleks. I never thought I'd see that. Back into the air lock! Quick!"

The Cybermen take chase as they re-enter the air lock. The Doctor disables the locks with his sonic screwdriver to keep out the Cybermen on one side and the Daleks on the other.

"What now?" yells Amy in a panic.

"I think it's time we had the TARDIS," says The Doctor.

"Oh, I love you Doctor," says Amy. "You brought the TARDIS key with you!"

"Well, yes. You never know when you might need it."

"What's a TARDIS?" asks Simon. Moments later, he asks, "What's that sound?"

"You'll see."

The TARDIS materializes in the air lock.

"Missed. It was meant to materialize around us. No matter. Get in!"

Simon hesitates. "Is there any way to fight the Doppler mind transference?"

"Yes, if you are highly intelligent and are prepared for the mind battle."

"Great! I'll check out that TARDIS thing later." Simon opens the air-lock on the Dalek side and announces his desire to be the subject for the calibration. The Doctor and Amy have no time to argue. They have to get in the TARDIS and leave immediately.


	9. Chapter 9

6

 **Chapter 9**

"Why?" asks a very agitated Amy. "Why would Simon do that?"

"Curiosity. Hubris. Something like that."

"Well, we have to rescue him."

"Actually, I think this might be the best way. Psychic paper didn't work on him. This probably won't either."

"Probably?"

"No, I'm sure it won't. He can beat it. Especially if he's mentally prepared, and he will be. Besides, we need to find Adams and get him to tell us if there's a way to stop this. It's a two-pronged approach. Us grilling Adams, and Simon tricking the Daleks."

"But they'll kill him."

"Not a chance. They need him healthy for the calibration. He's the key to their success."

"Well, I don't like this. Not at all."

"Neither do I. But it's all we have going for us right now."

They arrive back at the moon station, in The Doctor's room. They go to the security offices, asking for Officer Greene.

"He's left for Earth with Adams," says a deputy guard. "He's arrested him for murder."

"When will they arrive on earth?" asks The Doctor.

"They left about thirty-six hours ago and took the express. They should be there tomorrow."

The Doctor and Amy return to the TARDIS so they can get back to Earth. In order to avoid a frustrating waiting period, they arrive on Earth at about the time that Greene and Adams arrive. When they get there, they learn that Adams will be going straight to a preliminary hearing in front of a judge to hear the charges against him. The hearing will be right there in Macapa at the town hall.

They hurry to the town hall where The Doctor uses his psychic paper to convince everyone involved that he is to take over as the prosecuting attorney. He even convinces the real prosecuting attorney, who is somewhat lazy and more than happy to go home for the rest of the day. Officer Greene is in attendance as the arresting officer and is more than a little surprised that this Smith fellow also seems to be an attorney. The courtroom is packed. It's not often the richest man in the world is arrested for murder.

The Doctor is asked by the judge to begin with the proceedings. He asks Kurt Adams to the stand.

The judge intervenes. "We have to hear the charges from the arresting officer first. As prosecutor you must know that."

"Of course, your honor." The Doctor wants to explain to the judge that Daleks are about to take over his mind and body and he can't waste any time. Instead he asks Officer Greene to take the stand.

"Please state your name for the record, sir," he says.

"Patrick Eugene Greene."

"Really. Patrick Eugene, eh? I didn't know that. Anyway, never mind that. Why are you here today"

"Well, I arrested Mr. Adams for the murder of Deepak Sharma and brought him back to earth for this hearing."

"Okay, then. Thank you. I'd like to ask Kurt Adams to come up here. Come, on then." The Doctor claps his hands to help move the proceeding along.

"Don't you want to see the video?" asks Greene.

"Seen it. Boring. Mr. Adams, please?"

The judge warns The Doctor that he should present a full case before interviewing the defendant.

"No time for that, your honor. Please indulge me for a moment."

"Very well. The defendant will take the stand."

"Please state your name for the record, sir," The Doctor says.

"Kurt Adams."

"What is your relationship with the deceased, Doctor Deepak Sharma?"

"He was my chief technology officer and partner in my moon station."

"Right. Good. Something puzzles me, though. Why did you place the body on the right side of the bed when, in fact, you sleep on the left side of the bed?"

"What?"

"Because you were in a hurry and you weren't really thinking straight, were you."

"Wait," says the judge. He turns to the court reporter. "Please read back to us the prosecutor's last question."

The court reporter turns the transcript back slightly and adjusts her reading glasses. "Smith: Right. Good. Something puzzles me, though. Why did you place the body on the right side of the bed when you sleep on the left side of the bed?"

"You?" says the judge. "When _you_ sleep on the left side of the bed? Please be more careful in your questioning, Mr. Smith. We don't want to create any confusion in our records."

"Oh, we're just getting started on the confusion."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Just… indulge me for a moment."

"Very well."

"Mr. Adams. Or, whoever. Did you murder Deepak Sharma?"

"No, of course not."

"No. No, you didn't murder him. But you did kill him."

"Are you suggesting manslaughter?" asks the judge.

"No, your honor." The Doctor turns dramatically to Adams and points a finger of accusation. "I am suggesting SUICIDE!"

The courtroom erupts. Now the judge has had enough. "Stop this nonsense!" he yells, while slamming his gavel. Once the room calms down, the judge issues a stern warning to The Doctor. "One more ridiculous statement like that, and I will hold you in contempt. Then commit you to the loony bin."

"Please, your honor. Allow me to continue. Your life and the life of everyone in this room and, indeed, the world, depends on it. And time is running out."

"I'm reluctant to allow this, but what the hell. I have nothing else to do. Proceed."

"Actually, your honor, this man here is guilty of murder _and_ suicide."

"But that's impossible."

The Doctor turns to Adams. "Oh, but it's not, is it Doctor Sharma."

"Mister Smith!" yells the judge.

"Please. Let me continue. Trust me."

"I should have kept my job in New York. But I thought there were too many crazies in New York City. Continue."

The Doctor explains to the room that Dr. Sharma has transferred his mind to Adams. So Adams is really Dr. Sharma. The motive was obvious. Not only would Sharma instantly become 40 years younger, he would also become the richest man in the world.

"How is this possible?" asks the judge.

The Doctor goes on to explain the technology that would make this possible. It's a somewhat believable tale. After all, a sixteen-year-old kid named Simon invented a device that performed a rudimentary version of the process. Doctor Sharma, widely regarded as the worlds' greatest scientific mind, has sixty years on Simon. It's conceivable that he could have invented such a device in secret.

The Doctor leans close in to Adams/Sharma and whispers in his ear. "I don't think they're quite ready to hear about the Daleks, don't you agree?"

"That's quite a story," says the judge. "Quite unbelievable, actually. I move that we get a new prosecutor."

"I may be able to uncover evidence, you honor. Please roll up your sleeves, Dr. Sharma."

"Why is this necessary?" Adams/Sharma asks the judge.

"I'd like to know, as well."

"I doubt if Mr. Adams went into this procedure willingly. He must have been drugged and restrained. That would leave marks on his arms."

"I see. Do as you're asked, Mr. Adams."

Adams/Sharma rolls up his sleeves, revealing red scratches at both wrists and a needle mark on the right arm. The judge gets a close look and confirms the findings. Again, the courtroom erupts.

"Order! Order!" the judges screams, as he nearly breaks his gavel.

Once the courtroom calms down again, The Doctor offers another bit of evidence. "Kurt Adams may have been the richest man in the world, but he made his fortune in finance. He was famously ignorant of technological matters. He never would have been able to rush into the security room and erase key parts of several videos in such a short period of time. Child's play for Sharma, though. And only Sharma knew the password to the security server."

The judge considers the new evidence. "What do you have to say for yourself, Mr. Adams?"

Adams/Sharma glares at the judge. "The name is Sharma. This man here is correct. Bravo, sir. But it's too late. I've just been notified through my implanted communication device that the procedure is ready to commence."

Like all villains, Sharma can't resist bragging about his evil plot. He confesses that he is in league with alien beings called Daleks and Cybermen. They would take over the bodies of billions of humans. Not everyone, but enough to control the rest. Sharma would remain unscathed in Adams' body to act as a liaison between the two versions of humanity. It would give Sharma even greater power than his newfound wealth would provide. He would also be given periodic use of the individual mind transference device so he could take over bodies every few decades, thereby making him immortal.

"And there's nothing anyone can do about it," Sharma concludes.

"But you can stop it!" yells The Doctor. "You're the only one who can stop it!"

Sharma is having none of it. "Begin the procedure!" he shouts.

The Doctor yells to Sharma that he is a fool for trusting the Daleks. They would take his body along with everyone else.

Then it begins. A blue ray that appears to radiate downward permeates the room and almost everyone feels the strange and terrifying mind transference procedure beginning. Sharma feels it, too. He sees that the Doctor is right. The Doctor yells at Amy and everyone else to fight it. That if they are strong, they can push the Dalek or Cyberman mind out. Chaos takes over the courtroom.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the beam begins to lose strength. The blue ray turns red and seems to move upward. The process is reversing.

"Simon, you're brilliant!" yells The Doctor.

The rays die out and everyone is safe.

"What happened?" asks Amy.

"Simon. It was Simon. I knew he could do it."

Amy approaches Sharma angrily. "You bastard!"

"What?" He looks around groggily. "How did I get here?"

The Doctor asks his name. "Kurt Adams, of course. Who are you?"

At first Amy thinks Sharma is faking it. But The Doctor knows right away. Adams was still somewhere in the deep recesses of his brain. The reversal procedure drove out Sharma, killing him for good, since his body was already dead. By now the judge trusts that The Doctor and agrees that Sharma is no longer. The case is dismissed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The Doctor and Amy rush to the TARDIS so they can rescue Simon. They materialize in the airlock again, just in case. There are no Daleks or Cybermen to be seen. They walk down the tunnel to the control center. There are no voices. When they get there they find Simon still standing at the controls of the Doppler mind transference device, surrounded by dead Daleks and Cybermen.

"You did it, Simon!"

"How?" asks Amy.

"Well, the mind transference thing was pretty easy to fight off. They used a Dalek and after the procedure was done the Dalek was dead. But he wasn't in me. I must have, I don't know, kind a deflected him into space or something. I pretended to be a Dalek with a human body. I even said 'exterminate' a couple times. It was kind of fun."

"How did you stop the universal process?" asks The Doctor.

"They let me just hang around so I watched everything they did. By watching them, I learned how the controls work. It wasn't easy, since the controls have labels in their language and alphabet. Anyway, the process started when a voice came through the speakers. It said, "Begin the procedure!" And so they did. Once it started, the Daleks and Cybermen just went sort of blank. That's when I was able to take over the controls and reverse the procedure. I pointed the transmitters out into space. I guess it worked."

"It sure did," says Amy as she hugs Simon. She kisses him on the cheek. 'I love you."

Simon blushes. "Can I check out that blue box now? What did you call it, the TARDIS?"

The Doctor laughs. 'You can even fly it if you want."

"Cool!"

They walk calmly, happily back to the air lock. On the way there, The Doctor explains that the TARDIS can travel through time and space. As soon as they walk into the TARDIS, Simon looks around in amazement, as they all do. But he doesn't go back outside.

"Oh, of course," Simon says.

"Of course what?" asks The Doctor.

'Well, of course it's bigger on the inside. I mean, if it can travel through time and space that means it can manipulate the space-time fabric of the cosmos in any way it needs to."

"Smart alec," says Amy. "You must really annoy your classmates."

"I'm used to it," he shrugs.

"Well, Simon," says The Doctor. "You've already been to the moon. Where would you like to go now? And when?"

"Surprise me."


End file.
